In search of the Chiltern Gentian  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 View from Watlington Hill I had a chance to spend a couple of days in the Oxfordshire area and there are a few nature reserves I always like to visit when I’m in the area. The first place I wanted to visit was Watlington Hill. Back in June I spent an afternoon at the nature reserve, which is looked after by the National Trust, and on that occasion was treated to an aerial display by Red Kites that was quite amazing. I had managed on that occasion to get some pictures I was quite pleased with, including some of a Red Kite feeding, but I was eager to have another go. I arrived at the nature reserve quite early in the day and I could tell it was going to be a hot day too. Although I did see a few Red Kites they were all at a distance that made getting good pictures difficult. I came to the conclusion that there were so many of them on my previous visit because at the time they were probably feeding young.
Although I didn’t see many Red Kites on this visit I was struck by the number of different species of butterflies. Once I wrote them all down it turned out to be sixteen different species, which I think is the most I’ve ever seen in one day. I wish I could say I was able to get pictures of all the species I saw but as it was a very warm August day none of them were sitting still for long. The rarest butterfly I saw here was the Silver-spotted Skipper, which is a tiny butterfly that moves very fast and does a very good job of hiding in the grass.
I walked all over the site just like I had done on my previous visit and on this occasion found a chalk mark made in the 18th century in the shape of a spire on the hillside. Like all of these marks it probably looks far more impressive when viewed from a distance.
I’m think I could have spent most of the day visiting Watlington Hill but another place I always enjoy visiting if I’m in this area is Warburg. It’s a nature reserve I never tire of and always find something new to see when I visit. A quick visit to the visitor centre when I arrived showed exactly where I might find some Violet Helleborines, a plant I had never seen before. Also in flower on the reserve were Chiltern Gentians, a nationally rare plant, so I set about trying to find them. In the end the gentians were not where I expected to find them at all and I’d almost given up trying to find them until I spotted something the right colour in the middle of a footpath. On closer inspection sure enough a few gentians had just started to flower but many more were on the way too.
 Chiltern Gentian  Warburg Nature Reserve  Violet Helleborine
I spent some time trying to get some macro images of the delightful flowers but was also keen to see if I could find some of the Violet Helleborines too so I went to the area of woodland indicated on the map. In the dense shade of the beech woodland there were several cages protecting some very spindly looking plants. I’d almost given up trying to find any with any flowers on when I met with someone else who was looking for the same thing and he’d found a single flower on the top of a very tall spike in the deepest shade you could imagine anything growing in. I have no doubt this flower spike with many more flowers on would have looked very impressive but I was glad just to see the single flower today. It certainly wasn’t easy getting a good picture of it though. I found it almost impossible to see if I had the focus correct in the dim light.
As always Warburg was well worth a visit and had given me a chance on seeing rare flowers I’d never seen before. Before leaving I sat on an area of short grass drinking coffee and enjoying the warm sunshine. It had certainly been a memorable day.
 Sunken way at Chinnor Hill The following morning the weather really wasn’t looking very promising but I made my way to Chinnor Hill nature reserve: a new place for me to visit which looks out over the Vale of Aylesbury. Unfortunately the only views I got were of the approaching bad weather. I had a walk around the top of the hill however and under the canopy of the hilltop trees managed to stay mostly dry. Once it brightened up I followed the walk around the nature reserve. The first footpath I used followed the track of an ancient sunken way once used for moving sheep, chalk, flint and wood. It certainly felt like the footpath had been there for a long time and reminded me of the footpath I’d seen the previous day at Watlington Hill where such a path had been restored.
Once at the bottom of the reserve I followed part of the Upper Icknield Way, which runs along the lower edge of the reserve. I was surprised how steep the path back up to where the car park was as I didn’t think I had gone that far down and being on chalk the path was rather slippery seeing it had rained quite heavily for a time that morning. On this steep slope I looked carefully for some more Chiltern Gentians which are supposed to grow here but couldn’t find any sadly. I did find however some very old Juniper bushes which are home to many rare insects. It is a plant that is declining in Lowland Britain and sadly they are reluctant to reproduce too. Juniper berries are used to flavour gin and were once used as an alternative for pepper.
As I had finished walking around Chinnor Hill Nature Reserve I decided I had time to visit another place and I was also keen to see if I could have another go at seeing some Red Kites. So I drove the short distance to Aston Rowant National Nature Reserve, this one looked after by Natural England. This was another new place for me to visit but it also turns out to be another good place for watching Red Kites; so good in fact a special viewing platform has been built just for the purpose. Just like the day before at Watlington Hill there were none to be seen but I did read the notice board and found a lot about the birds I didn’t know before. One fact is that they like to roost communally in the winter time and it is often a very good time to get close up views of the birds.
 Junipers growing at Aston Rowant  Mating Common Blue Butterflies
The reserve overlooks the M40 motorway: the constant noise of the traffic is not something I am used to when visiting a nature reserve but still I found there was lots to see and I enjoyed my walk around and up to the top of Beacon Hill. When the M40 motorway was built a cutting was made through the hill so the reserve is on both sides of the Motorway. At the time the road was built a Roman road was found along with a Saxon village. Just like I had walked along a sunken way at Watlington Hill and Chinnor Hill, there was another one here too. People would have used these tracks for centuries and they certainly make for striking features: you can imagine the people who would have used them in the past.
As I walked around the flower meadows I was lucky to spot some Silver-spotted Skippers once more. I was keeping my eyes peeled for some Chiltern Gentians too. I did in fact find some, but unfortunately they weren’t quite in flower yet. I wondered just how many people rushing past on the busy M40 knew just what beautiful and rare flowers were on the hills beside the road. Another striking thing was huge number of ant hills. My information leaflet tells me there are around 100,000 of them at Aston Rowant, which I find staggering. It is estimated some of them are over 100 years old.
So it had been yet another very enjoyable visit to the Oxfordshire countryside: an area where I can always find interesting places to visit and now I have found another place I can see Red Kites from as well. I know next time I’m in the area just where I’ll be going.
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